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More on AIB Roast

Someone asked me not to do disclaimers so I won’t. Despite the current political climate, I will not put a disclaimer for this post.

I am just surprised by the uproar over AIB Roast. It wasn’t even that funny and yet all this publicity. I expect the CM of a state which is notorious for driving away ‘outsiders’ to have a negative opinion about it. I mean, what else is this guy supposed to do? Build infrastructure in Mumbai? Are you fucking kidding me?

But when people of my generation have a problem, there is a BIG problem. As a person of who isn’t on twitter I would have put up 1-2 statuses on fb and shut the hell up. But, twitter has this effect. One topic takes over the timeline and that is all one can think about all day. So, I have been raving, ranting, getting pissed off and to make matters worse I had enough troubles with my cab, hotel and flight yesterday to try all my patience. I have decided to write this post and close the issue here. No more ranting, hopefully.

The beauty of the internet is that you can find whatever you want on it. The only condition is that you have to go looking for it. It’s not like TV/friends which influence you and push you. You have to make the effort to go to the internet and it is as accessible as you make it out to be. For example, during a week in Chennai in 2006 I had no friends and not much to do after work. So, I spent my evenings looking at porn and shagging. Of course, the bill from the internet was humongous (those days when unlimited downloads were unheard of). Do I do that anymore? No. I mean, I shag. Hell, I think it is imperative for a happy life. But, I don’t go looking for porn. I have my favourite clip and I stick to that. I don’t go looking for something am not interested in. Makes sense, right?

So, if you are offended by abuses, bad language, sexist jokes… why would you go looking for a group called ‘All India Bakchod’ on youtube. Why? And the trailer of the roast was quite explicit. As a fan I knew what the content would be like. Chalo, maan liya you didn’t know. Didn’t Karan Johar warn you in the beginning? So, then why did you watch the entire video? WHY? Why did you waste 1.3 hours on it? And then you get offended and spend more time ranting about this on social media. I don’t get it. Are you an imbecile?

People asked me why am I taking it personally. I am 30 yrs of age. I have seen enough in this life to not like people anymore. I don’t drool over men or fawn over celebrities. But, am a fan of these stand up comedians and so proud that they are the next generation. They think… they take a stand about issues… they are genuinely decent and nice guys. I like them. I follow them on twitter and know enough to feel like I know them. For example, Aditi Mittal is single… Neeti Palta has a dog… Jeevshu is pro AAP… Rohan Joshi’s best gift is a book Shaheen Bhat gifted him… Sahil Shah is in love with his penis. And when the government goes after people I know and like, that’s personal.

All of us live in iron towers. We think we are very noble by getting enraged when a child is thrown out of McD and by writing about it on social media. We think we have done enough by airing it on social media. It is so far off from our lives and our reality. But when the politics/bigotry enters my world like this, hell, it’s personal. It’s so personal if you tell me you voted this party in power am going to fucking abuse you.

It’s pretty clear none of these guys have ever watched a live stand up comedy show. I mean, the stuff that is said live will give them a heart attack. And if you are in the front row, you will get picked on like nobody in school has ever have bullied you. Like, there was this guy in dark glasses seated in the front row once. He looked menacing… very menacing. The stand up comedian cracked jokes about his balls all night. You need balls of steel to tolerate that. That’s why I never sit in the front row. The whole night will be jokes about my name. The stand up comedian won’t even need his other jokes for the night. Once a comedian cribbed about kids. He wasn’t cracking jokes, he spent the night just cribbing. Not funny at all. Anyway, my friend’s friend who likes kids walked out of the show. I mentioned it to Aditi on twitter once and she said ‘As long as he just walked out’. That is what you do… don’t like it don’t watch it. I can’t stand Honey Singh songs, I don’t listen to them unless they are on radio and then I have the option to turn off the radio.

I mean, you are stupid if you don’t like sexist jokes and you watch Sahil Shah’s comedy. That guy puts up pics of how long his penis is on twitter/instagram. They are not pics of his penis, just pics of other things so you can imagine how long it is. Yes, it’s ridiculous. But what is more ridiculous is if you go watch him. And yes, he is my favourite stand up comedian. YES- me a feminist, likes his sexist jokes. Because that’s not who he is as a person, atleast I hope not. He is just cracking jokes… to make us laugh.

There was one more point. Somebody mentioned – how can Deepika have a problem with TOI on her cleavage pics and then laugh at such jokes in a show. It’s like this. If my friends- guys or gals, crack jokes about me- about my boobs/vagina/cleavage/sex anything I don’t have a problem.. AT ALL. But if you are not part of this group and even dare comment on any of this, I will make your life miserable or ignore you… which is the same thing. That’s the difference. It’s called consent. Who I laugh with about myself is my choice.

The AIB roast is not the best thing I have seen… hell, it wasn’t even good… thoda chill karo. Use your freedom of choice to decide what you want to be offended by. Don’t ruin my day by picking on my heroes.